Workers set up picket lines at Ports of L.A., Long Beach

Clerical workers who have been without a contract for 17 months hit the picket line this afternoon at several terminals spread across the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Negotiations lapsed two days ago between the clerical unit of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Employers Association, according to Stephen Berry, lead negotiator for the employers group.

"The employers have provided multiple proposals since negotiations began 20 months ago to reach a fair agreement that provides total job security along with continued great wages and benefits," Berry said.

John Fageaux, president of the ILWU's Office Clerical Unit Local 63, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Around noon, office clerks began staging an "informational picket" at the China Shipping, NYK and and Evergreen shipping terminals at the Port of Los Angeles, said port spokesman Phillip Sanfield.

Those terminals are shutting down for the rest of the day and truck traffic was being diverted, Sanfield said.

About a dozen picketers were reported this afternoon at the TTI terminal at the Port of Long Beach, said port spokesman John Pope.

"At this point it's fairly contained, the terminal remains open and no dockworkers have joined the strike at this point," Pope said.

Office workers initially went on strike just minutes after their last three-year contract with the employers association expired July 1, 2010. The association represents 14 terminal operators and shipping companies.

That walkout ended 11 days later when the clerks abandoned their picket lines in front of five shipping terminals and returned to work. Port operations were not affected because managers took up most of the work.

No walkouts have been held since then as the union and employers continued to hold friendly, albeit lengthy, negotiations.

Union officials have previously argued that local jobs could be outsourced to other countries because the terminal operators want to implement new computer programs that would allow customers to directly access booking information.

The employers group claims the union wants to require shippers to hire temporary and permanent workers, even if there is no work available.

Additionally, offers proposed by the union could dismantle efforts to improve workplace technologies that were previously approved in contracts struck up in 2004 and 2007, Berry said.

Clerical workers earn an average of $40 per hour, along with 13 sick days, 21 paid holidays and four weeks of vacation annually. They also receive a health plan that includes free prescriptions and medical co-payments of $5 or less.